


Recurring Nightmare

by Naxius



Category: Jupiter Ascending (2015)
Genre: JA Secret Santa 2015
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-25
Updated: 2015-12-25
Packaged: 2018-05-09 03:22:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,349
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5523569
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Naxius/pseuds/Naxius
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set approximately ten years after the events in Jupiter Ascending. It was another average day for secret space queen Jupiter Jones, an another average battle with constant racing thoughts of space politics, life, family, and the future. A not-so-average encounter breaks the routine.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Recurring Nightmare

**Author's Note:**

> This story was written for the 2015 Jupiter Ascending Secret Santa. The given prompt was from Pensola on tumbr, and involved Jupiter meeting a (possibly entitled) recurrence.
> 
> I was only one day late in posting this :D

"AC, two" said Jupiter. Within seconds, the air conditioning in her hybrid BMW went from a glacial wind to a light, cool breeze. It would likely not be long until the air conditioning would have to be increased again. There was not a cloud in the sky and the sun’s rays were unusually hot for a day in late May. The car’s black color did not help.

 

She sighed, impatient. Her cousin Moltka should have been here by now. He had undoubtedly lost track of time, just as he had done the last seven times she was given the task of picking him up from school. Or was it eight times? This was Moltka’s graduating year, and he had over-burdened himself with both sports and some graduation planning committee. Or was it the prom planning committee? It was some kind of committee, in any case. She was glad that her cousin was doing well in school and had a few good career opportunities lined up, but having to pick him up late in the afternoons several times a week was becoming tiresome. Especially when “Can you pick me up at five?” typically meant he would be stepping out into the parking lot around 5:45.

 

High school was such a drag according to most. Jupiter had heard several horror stories about the rampant bullying, teacher apathy, non-stop surveillance, and shitty cafeteria lunches. Despite how terrible this environment sounded, Jupiter was a bit disappointed that she never got to experience due to her lack of citizenship while growing up. To her, high school felt more like a privilege for those lucky enough to be born in a developed country. Although she had not been able to go to school in America, Jupiter had still been lucky: Aleksa, being a former university professor, had provided her daughter with an excellent education. In fact, Juipiter often found that her own abilities on certain subjects—especially math and the sciences—were far beyond those of people her age that _had_ gone to school.

 

This was confirmed when Jupiter obtained her GED after a few key things in her life were taken care of, simply for the sake of being able to state on her resume that, yes, she did possess High School-level knowledge. The courses were even more boring than entitled code and conduct documents.

 

Moltka would not have had the opportunity to attend High School either had it not for her winning the genetic space lottery. Being the reincarnation of an entitled matriarch definitely had some perks. Jupiter had originally sworn to herself that she would put an end to the harvesting industry, and that she would only use her powers for good.

 

How exactly did one define "good", anyway?

 

Jupiter had certainly not abused her powers…or at least not much. The powers she had used had not harmed anyone, at least. After things in space had settled down, it was relatively simple to acquire citizenship for herself and for the rest of her family, especially considering all the newfound "employees" she now had at her disposal. A break and entry in a government records facility here, a few blankings there, and voilà: new US government-issued IDs.

 

Unfortunately, great power came with great responsibility. Or at least came with great drama and space insanity. The Earth had been spared--for now. The power vacuum caused by Balem Abrasax's demise resulted in never-ending bickering and scheming among the remainder of the Abrasax heirs. Cruel even into his death, Balem's will had stated that the entirety of his holdings were to be inherited by his future recurrence.

 

 _Fucking greedy, egotistical, self-serving asshole_ , she thought. Since Balem's estates and holdings could not simply remain unattended, someone had to make a Temporary Holding claim to everything he had owned. And he had owned a _lot_.

 

While the other two primary Abrasax heirs were able to appear civil to one another on the surface, both Kalique and Titus had been ruthlessly attempting to obtain as much as Balem’s former fortune as possible, either for their own benefit, or to prevent the other from obtaining certain portions of the inheritance that could be of strategic importance in the future. Kalique seemed to be on the winning end so far. To this mix were added claims from several Secondary heirs related to the Abrasax family, as well as former business partners of Balem to which were owed various amounts of money. The rules for sorting out the inheritance mess were complicated, and necessitated an army of advocates to navigate the complicated maze of red tape and legal holes.

 

Kalique was still an enigma. The only certainties that Jupiter could discern was that the second Primary was clearly not going to give up her current lifestyle, and that Jupiter’s thirty-four years of life experience would not be enough to go head-to-head with Kalique’s fourteen thousand. What remained uncertain was whether her desire to get a second chance at a relationship with her “mother” was legitimate. She assumed that Kalique wished her no ill will, provided that Jupiter did not interfere with anything. Jupiter thought the best bet would be to try to convince Kalique to invest in ethical harvesting, which would end the murder of billions of people and yet still allow her access to perpetual youth. This idea was discussed briefly when the two had recently met, after some of Jupiter’s investments in ethical RegeneX had resulted in some measure of success.

 

Being called “Mother” by Kalique still creeped the hell out of Jupiter, though.

 

Since the odds of a recurrence were astronomically low, Balem's holdings would likely remain in the Temporary Holder's hands for a long time, if not eternity--or until the Temporary Holder’s death, at which point the squabbling would begin anew.

 

Due to intense pressure from her advisors, Jupiter had entered the inheritance dispute as well. Matters were trudging along at a snail’s pace, and it quickly became clear that this legal free-for-all would take centuries—if not millennia—to come to an end. Jupiter would not be alive this long. Not unless she bit the bullet and made use of the miracle juice known as RegeneX. Fortunately, she had a small reserve of the product that was made ethically. It was still inferior to the RegeneX resulting from harvests, but it was something. The universe now knew that it could be done, and Jupiter hoped that the technology involved in the creation of her ethical brand of the RegeneX would improve sooner rather than later.

 

Things would become complicated when the rest of her family would gradually age while she remained youthful. Would she be willing to outlive them all, even if she had the ability to save them? The thought reminded her of how close she came to sacrificing her family during her “negotiations” with Balem Abrasax. The thought made her want to burst into tears, and the air inside of her car suddenly felt heavier and stifling—just like the air in Balem’s boardroom.

 

"AC, five" The wind in the vehicle cooled down.

 

She still had not told her family about her new life. As far as they knew, Jupiter had found a wonderful boyfriend who was in the military and traveled often. The work he did was something top-secret. He also made a lot of money in the military, and could afford to give her money for various things, including plane tickets for times when he had to go on missions and house-sitting was required. This story was not entirely a lie. Caine, the wonderful boyfriend, had even visited Jupiter’s family a few times. Things were good, and she wanted to keep them that way.

 

Jupiter knew that the truth would have to come out eventually. She had given this problem a lot of thought, and did not want to think about it anymore at the moment. A basic mindfulness exercise she had learned from the Internet came to her mind, where the act of focusing on one’s surroundings made the racing thoughts go away. This exercise had been useful to her many times.

 

She focused on some children playing in the school playground, hoping that she didn’t look like a creep by doing so. Children were the future. They were filled with wonder and innocence. Focusing on the handful of kids having fun without a care in the world prompted Jupiter to remember such a time in her own life, a time where playing with friends and a lack of responsibilities were the norm. Her family was by no means privileged, but her life was filled with people who loved her, and she found herself longing for such a care-free life where everything was taken care of.

 

Most of the children did not seem to know one another. They were probably from different grade levels, judging by their size. One boy was likely at the end of elementary school, another child with no apparent gender markers was probably a third grader, and the other three, two boys and one girl, were either kindergarteners or first graders.

 

One of the smaller boys was playing with a ball, throwing it up in the air and catching it once again. He was not terribly accurate with his throws, and sometimes had to dive for the ball due to having thrown it at an angle that was not quite perpendicular to the ground. That is, if the ball was not missed entirely. As a result, the boy’s clothes, ripped blue jeans and an “Avengers 5” t-shirt, were quite filthy. The ball also seemed filthy—Jupiter could not figure out if it was blue, green, or brown due to the amount of dirt coating the ball’s surface.

 

Jupiter chuckled softly at the child throwing the ball to himself, and wondered why he simply didn’t ask the other boy of similar size if he wanted to play. They could have thrown the ball to one another—especially since the other boy was sitting on a swing and not doing anything. The swing was not even moving.

 

It was like the kid on the swing had heard Jupiter’s thoughts. He slid off the swing and slowly made his way across the playground, toward the boy with the ball. He wore black track pants and a shirt that resembled a black sports jersey, with yellow (or golden?) accents on the neck and sleeves. The boy certainly did not seem very active for a child who wore sporty looking clothes. First sitting idly on the swing, and now walking in the laziest manner imaginable. Luckily he did not have to walk too far. The ball was thrown at a terrible angle once again, and landed close to him.

 

The child in black picked the ball up and said something to the boy who had been throwing it, and held the ball out with outstretched arms…only to have it smacked out of his hands by the other. Apparently the boy with the jeans and t-shirt did not want to play with others. The exchange of words that followed was quickly ended when the boy wearing the filthy clothes shoved the other one away.

 

The boy with the black and yellow shirt shot a nasty glare at the other before making his way back toward the swing set, where he once again sat motionless.

 

 _The rampant bullying_ , Jupiter remembered as her good mood gradually dissipated. Why must people be mean to one another? She watched as the child hopped off the swing. His actions had seemed lazy previously, but he now moved with a purpose. The boy made his way to the trash can near the playground and fished out an empty pop bottle, followed by an empty bag of chips. What was this kid up to?

 

He took something shiny out of his pocket, most likely a few coins, and put them into the bottle one by one. He then stuffed the entire chip bag through the bottle’s neck to prevent any of the coins from escaping the bottle. Looking satisfied, the child made his way toward the other boy playing with the ball once again. Jupiter looked on as the children exchanged words once again, this time without physical violence. It looked as though the kid holding the bottle was asking the other to help get the coins out. If this was the case, why put the coins in the bottle and seal them in with a chip bag in the first place?

 

The boy with the ball roughly grabbed the bottle and turned away, intent on keeping the goods inside to himself. He shook the bottle, but the coins did not come out, nor did the chip bag. He then attempted to remove the bag with his fingers but was unsuccessful. Maybe if he could shake the bottle enough to bring the bag close enough to the edge of the bottle’s neck, he could reach it…

 

Seeing that the bottle with the inaccessible coins had been a successful distraction, the boy in the black and gold jersey picked the discarded ball up from the ground and made his way back to the other end of the playground. He had won.

 

Jupiter could not believe her eyes. Bullying. Deceit. _Children are the future!_ She scoffed. Apparently children were also able to come up with a million ways to screw each other over. Perhaps cruelty and the need to step on others was simply a part of humanity’s nature. As Stinger had said upon their first meeting, her species did not share very well. Maybe there was no hope of a better future. Jupiter’s brief sense of calm was replaced with bitter cynicism.

 

Moltka’s tardiness combined with Jupiter’s own rampant depressing thoughts was enough to elevate her temper. She turned off the vehicle and pocketed the keys, along with her cell phone. She was going to go get Moltka. Even if she ended up waiting inside the school instead of inside the car, the quick walk would likely do her good. Every time her temper flared, the words “standard issue Abrasax temper” came to her mind. Jupiter could not help getting angry sometimes, and feeling that her anger—a natural human emotion—somehow made her more like _them_ twisted her gut. She did not want to be associated with that fucked up family in any way.

 

She took a few deep breaths in order to calm down.

 

A thud on the car’s exterior startled Jupiter before she opened the door. She turned to the source of the sound and saw the blue and green colored ball rolling away, no doubt after hitting her car’s driver side window. She grabbed her purse and hastily exited the vehicle, making her way toward the ball.

 

The ball was made of a soft, bouncy plastic that could not possibly have damaged her car. She absentmindedly picked it up as one of the children approached hurriedly. It was the one with the black and yellow shirt.

 

"Sorry" the child muttered sheepishly. He was clearly embarrassed.

 

Jupiter sighed and turned to the boy "It's all right, but be careful where you kick that ball. You wouldn't want to--"

 

She froze mid-sentence as she noticed the child's face. The combination of the boy's facial features immediately reminded her of...no. It couldn’t possibly be him. But the freckles on his cheeks, his full lips, and the shape and color of his eyes caused a flood of terrible and unwanted memories to crash into her mind.

 

The child hesitated for a moment, apparently picking up on the adult's confusion "Can I have the ball back?"

 

Jupiter remained stunned and motionless, not knowing what to do or say. Before her stood the face of her nightmares, and also the face of an innocent child. Was this kid a recurrence? The odds of a recurrence were so impossibly low—to have one appear so soon would be impossible, but…what if he was? The boy’s shirt, black with a golden trim around the collar, was reminiscent of Balem Abrasax’s golden collar. Even his hair color was a match.

 

 _No way. This can’t be happening_ , Jupiter told herself as she regained her composure. This child was nothing but an unlucky coincidence that happened to show up at the wrong time and place, and Jupiter did not wish to be that sketchy lady in the parking lot whom the kid would tell his parents about later that night. She looked down at the ball in her hands as she prepared to return it to the boy, noticing exactly what the green and blue design on the ball looked like. Her face fell.

 

The ball looked like Earth.

 

"It belongs to me" the child insisted.

 

Jupiter reacted almost immediately upon hearing those words, shoving the ball into the child's chest, hard. The boy flew backwards and fell flat on his back, his head hitting the pavement. The momentum of the blow sent his legs folding upward and almost into a rolling backflip before falling back down on the ground. The Earth ball was dropped instantly. It fell to the ground as the boy did, bouncing a few times and then slowly rolling away. His body was motionless on the pavement.

 

Jupiter, also motionless now, stood above the kid's prone form and realized what she had just done.

 

 _Shit!_ she thought as she looked at the child before her. Panic level skyrocketed. Was the kid dead? Just what the hell had come over her? Had anyone seen her? She internally berated herself for looking around to see if anyone had seen what she had done before thinking to check if the boy was okay.

 

The child stirred and opened his eyes. He looked confused and shocked, but was definitely alive.

 

 _Go check on him_ , Jupiter mentally ordered herself. _Go check on him now, maybe he’s injured!_ She realized her hands were shaking. Unable to handle the situation any longer, Jupiter turned and quickly walked away from the scene and toward the school’s main entrance. Her brisk walk turned into a jog as she approached the double doors.

 

Once inside, Jupiter slumped down on the first bench she could find. She was thankful for three things at that moment: the bench was close to the entrance and but in the open, the school was mostly deserted in the late afternoon, and no blankings would be required to protect her from any consequences since nobody had seemed to witness her actions.

 

She let out a long sigh now that the ordeal was over. Tears started to well up in her eyes as she began to wind down.

 

 _Knocking out a six year old in a parking lot, you’ve really outdone yourself this time, your Majesty!_ The mental berating continued. Jupiter’s inner voice could sometimes be an asshole. The pressure caused by her newfound responsibilities certainly did not help matters. Her advisors expected her to handle things like a ninety thousand year old matriarch. She needed to have better control of her emotions if she was to compete with the likes of Kalique and Titus Abrasax, because what hope was there if all it took for her to completely lose her composure was the sight of some kid that looked like Balem Abrasax?

 

She truly did hope that the boy from the parking lot was okay, despite who he resembled.

 

Moltka came into view at the other end of the hallway. He did not seem to be in any particular hurry. Jupiter did her best to wipe the tears from her eyes before Moltka got close enough to notice. She did not want to discuss, or even think about what had happened, nor did she want to go back outside right away. Moltka greeted her.

 

“Hey, Jupe! Sorry I’m late, I—are you okay?”

 

"I don't feel good, it’s probably allergies or something" she said, closing her eyes and shaking her head "Let's call Vladie, he can drive both of us home. I'll pick my car up tomorrow."

 

She needed to speak to Caine. Now.


End file.
